Mathias MerianProfp. der Statt Parys wei folche an ietso an sufehen 1654 (Paris, France) Profp. der Statt Parys wei folche an ietso an sufehen 1654 (Paris, France)Mathias MerianLarge illustrated plate from Topographia GalliaeAmsterdam: 1661Copperplate engravingSheet size: 12" x 32 1/2"Mathias Merian was one of the most prominent members of the leading print publishing family of 17th-century Germany, known throughout Europe for his engravings of cityscapes and landscapes, his scientific books, and his editions of the noted series of travel books, the ?Great Voyages.? Born and trained in Basel, Switzerland, Merian joined the Frankfurt publishing house of Johann Theodor de Bry in 1616 and, the following year, he married de Bry?s daughter Maria Magdalena. Merian gained his greatest acclaim as head of the family publishing house following the death of his father-in-law in 1623. He rapidly and almost single-handedly built up the house to become one of the most important in Europe, etching most of the plates himself until about 1645, when he increasingly relied upon the help of a growing staff of assistants and pupils -- among them Wenceslaus Hollar, Rudolf and Conrad Meyer of Zurich, and his sons-in-law Christoph Le Blon and Melchior Kusel. His most famous pupil, however, would prove to be his daughter, Maria Sybillia Merian, a truly exceptional botanical artist of the early 18th century.

AITZEMA, Leon ab.Historia pacis, a foederatis Belgis ab anno 1621 ad hoc usque tempus tractatæ. Leyden, Joannis & Danielis Elsevier, 1654. 4vo. (4),+ 135, 138-872,+ (5) pp. Title printed in red and black. Slight browning. Contemporary vellum. Owner's signature in ink of And. G. Lindberg and signum "No. 47". From the library of L. F. Rääf at Forsnäs, with its exlibris. Willems 739. Berghman 1806. First Latin edition of Aitzema's history of the Dutch war of Independence, 1556 to 1648. Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600-1669) was a Dutch historian and statesman and was for thirty years resident for the towns of the Hanseatic League at the Hague, where he died. His most important work was the "Saken van Staet in Oorlogh in ende omtrent de Vereenigte Nederlanden", published in 14 volumes between 1655 and 1671, embracing the period from 1621 to 1668. At the age of 17 he also published a volume of Latin poems under the title of Poemaia Juvenilia